Gift Giving Friday III

Today's idea for Gift Giving Friday is...CRITTERS! Doing a knitted critter is a great idea for several reasons: there are many free patterns on the web, they don't use very much yarn, no one will ever grow out of them, they don't have to be washed (so you don't have to worry about using easy care yarn if you don't have any around), who cares about gauge, and they are just really fun to make! The Elephant above (AKA Effelunt, as he's known here) was done out of leftover yarn from a cardi and the blanket is Lorna's Laces sock yarn, left over from some socks. Who among us doesn't have leftover yarn? If elephants aren't your thing, how about a little kitty? I also found these little, tiny critters over at Lion's website geared for teaching kids how to knit (we won't get into the wisdom of using FunFur for a first knitting project) and aren't they cute? I love how some of them are bookmarks. These would be a cute stocking stuffer. Then I Googled across (its like stumbling across, but on the web) this site. They have links to more animals than you can imagine - Loch Ness Monster anyone? In addition to the stuffed animals links, this page will also link you to some dishcloth patterns with animals knitted in. Convenient, if your Loch Ness Monster wants a small afghan with a pig on it, you could do a few pig dishcloths and sew them together - voila, Nessie is warm all Winter! Don't think of these as only for kids, your friends might enjoy some of these too. And remember, if you use up all your leftover yarns, you'll have to buy more, you know, for insulation and all.